As soon as morning came, we woke up and after checking to see if it was safe, we climbed down the tree. We were just about to start heading towards the cave when I told the old man.
"Old man, do you mind if I take care of any wolves we encounter on our way while you stay back and protect Anna?"
"No problem. Less work for me."
Seeing that he agreed, I grabbed Anna's hand we started following the old man. As we made our way through the forest, we encountered a fair share of wolves but I managed to deal with them pretty easily. Slowly, I noticed their numbers increasing at a fast rate. I even faced four of them at once, so we started slowing down and moving more carefully.
"Kid, if more than ten wolves show up at once make sure you pick Anna and set her up on a tree. We can't fight and protect her at the same time."
I nodded my head and I could feel Anna tightening her grip on my hand. I squeezed her hand to reassure her and we kept walking. Not sure if because of old man Cunt's cursed mouth or just my luck, but suddenly we could hear footsteps coming from all sides. Not hesitating for even a second, I grabbed Anna and placed her on top of a branch on a nearby tree before jumping back down and sitting back to back with the old man.
"How many do you think, old man? "
"Twenty or so. It will probably be smarter for us to climb up the tree as well."
I thought seriously about his words for a moment and after consulting with Ai as well, I said to the old man. "I can take them if you can defend and cover my back, what do you think?"
"Hmm.. How sure are you?"
"Seventy something percent." Of course the odds came from Ai's simulations.
"Fine. You better know what you're doing, kid."
I nodded my head and started focusing so I could react to any attack. A few seconds later, the pack suddenly appeared. There were 26 wolves in total. Seeing that there were a bit more than expected, I asked Ai to give me the odds again.
[Fifty percent. You will need to attack first tho. Staying passive and defending with these numbers is a sure way to die.]
"Change in plans, old man. We attack."
As soon as the words left my mouth I put more pressure on my right foot and started running towards the wolf closest to me. The wolf tried to evade my attack but it was too slow, with three points in dexterity, my spear pierced it's neck before he could barely move. Taking the initiative to attack instantly made me the target of all the other wolves. The ones on the other side were not problem, but there were like ten wolves at a distance lower than five meters.
I dodged the attack from one of the wolves by jumping back and retreated a bit to attack a wolf that was sneaking up behind old man Cunt. While I was fighting, a sudden calm came over my mind as my movement also became smoother. I would either dodge or block with the shaft of my spear while taking out any slightly isolated wolf. The tempo of the battle was completely in my favor and I almost lost myself in this feeling of power until Ai's loud voice sounded in my mind.
[Roll forward!!]
I didn't even question it for a second as I immediately rolled forward two times. Looking back after I finished my roll, I noticed a wolf, slightly bigger than the others, sitting at my previous location.
[He's the alpha. He took advantage of his white fur to lay low and hide in the snow for an ambush.]
I thanked Ai's for the warning before standing up and dashing straight at the alpha. I didn't even finish taking one step when I noticed at the corner of my eye that the old man fell into a bad position, being surrounded by four wolves.
Being a bit too far to help him, I continued with the attack towards the alpha, intending to take care of the alpha and hoping this will make the other wolves retreat. When I reached it and tried to thrust my spear in it's neck, it surprisingly dodged to the side, intending to retreat. Not willing to let it retreat like that, I used my spear as a springboard instead and dove empty handed straight at the alpha. Seeing me abandoning my weapon, the alpha also jumped towards me with it's mouth open, intending to take a big bite out of my neck. I shoved my left arm inside it's mouth, enduring the pain of it's teeth piercing through my skin and punched with my right hand at the sudden red mark that appeared on the wolf's body.
A short pained howl escaped it's throat before it fell dead on the ground.
'Ai, was that red mark from you?'
[Yes, I marked the ideal location for you to hit. If you would have killed it instantly the other wolves might not have noticed immediately and your friend might have been in trouble.]
And she was right, because as soon as that howl left the alpha's mouth, all the other wolves started hesitating, slowly retreating by walking backwards. Not willing to let all this experience go, I used my right hand to pick up the spear and started attacking again. One minute later, all the wolves except seven of them, who managed to escape, were laying dead on the ground. I also sat down in the snow to catch my breath, with my back being supported by a tree, and asked Ai.
'How's my exp?'
[148/200]
'Good. Just a bit more.'
Anna climbed down from the tree and ran up to me, with old man Cunt following right behind.
"Are you okay?" she asked as soon as she reached me and started checking my wound.
"It just hurts a little but I'll be fine."
"You were amazing. The way you moved from wolf to wolf looked like you were dancing." Said Anna with stars in her eyes as she started bandaging my wound.
"She's right kid, you even managed to amaze me. Where did you learn to fight like that? Why would you get beaten up by me every day when you could fight like that?"
"No. Even I have no idea what happened. It all felt as natural as breathing to me."
[Do you think fighting wolves almost every single day inside your space and leveling up was for naught? The reason you were able to move like that was because of the increase in your parameters and the combat experience you gained while fighting wolves inside your soul space. When you were fighting before, the fight or flight response of your body will trigger and release adrenaline to aid in responding to the sudden threat. Now, your mind didn't even consider those wolves a threat and the fight or flight response of your body doesn't activate, allowing you to fight in a calmer and more calculated way.]
"I only saw this level of confidence while fighting from high rank adventurers who faced countless threats during their lives." Replied old man Cunt, obviously impressed by the way I fought earlier.
A bit embarrassed by all the praising, I changed the topic. "How long will it take until we reach the cave?"
"We were making decent progress so it should not take us that long, but are you sure you don't want to rest for a bit?"
"No, except this small wound I'm perfectly fine. I'm even a bit excited to fight more wolves now. Let's start moving again but with a slightly different formation, I will walk first and take care of the wolves on the way while you protect Anna from any surprise attack."
Anna looked at me worried when she heard me and said. "But you're hurt. Can you fight with only one hand?"
"I'll be fine as long as there are not that many wolves. If we stumble upon a big pack like just now, we'll just climb a tree and wait for them to get bored and leave." I patted Anna on the head to reassure her and started walking forward again, this time with me leading the way.
I followed the old man's directions and a few hours later we reached the cave. I took care of some wolves along the way but sadly I still needed four more to level up.
"That's the cave right there. Are you sure we'll be able to move the boulder with just the two of us?"
I looked at the huge boulder in front of the cave and started having doubts myself. 'Ai?'
[The boulder is a lot heavier than the old man said. You will need to level up again and put the free point into strength to move it.]
Hearing Ai's words, I turned towards the old man and said.
"It's bigger than I expected. I have a plan but I will need to go hunt some wolves first."
"Are you close to leveling up?"
Startled by the question, I was about to deny before Ai said to me.
[Leveling up is the main power system of this world so the adventurers should also have a way to use it, so it's no surprise that he knows about it. The problem is that a catalyst is needed to usually level up and you should have no access to one. Pretend you don't know anything about leveling up and just say that you get stronger as you kill wolves.]
I understood that Ai must be acting as my catalyst so I just repeated what she instructed me to say.
Old man Cunt pondered for a moment before saying "Leveling up is the process of using a catalyst to channel the world energy one gains from killing and using it you increase your strength. Are you saying that you don't have a catalyst?"
I shook my head and said to him "I was found naked by Anna outside the village. Where would I hide anything like that?"
"There were stories of people chosen by the world itself that didn't need a catalyst to level up, so you might be one of those people." Said old man Cunt while stroking his beard in a pensive way.
Seeing me shrug my shoulders he said "That would also explain your crazy increase in strength. You must be already level two."
I pretended I knew nothing about levels and started fishing for information from him. He explained that the guild has a catalyst that they use to increase someone's level when they felt they gained enough world energy. He also told me he was level two when he came to the village but apparently as he got older his strength started weakening. The rest of the stuff I already knew from Ai. After he was done explaining I said.
"That explains a lot of things. When I left the village and killed those people and some wolves I felt my strength increase by a lot. Now, I'm feeling the same way I felt back then so I must be close to leveling up again. That's why I wanted to hunt some more wolves before trying to move the boulder." The explanation seemed a bit forced but old man Cunt seemed to buy it as he said.
"This will even give us a better chance of getting past the ogres. Go do your thing and leave Anna in my care. I'll make sure nothing happens to her."
Nodding towards the old man, I gave Anna a peck on her forehead and started walking around looking for some pray. It took me two hours to kill four wolves, but that was only because I managed to stumble upon a pack and had to hide in a tree and wait for them to lose interest. Two hours later, as I killed a group of three wolves, my status appeared in my vision.
[
Name: Ethan Knott
Age: Avatar 18;
Race: Avatar Human;
Experience: 4/400;
Health Points: 42/50;
Mana Points 30/30;
Level: 3;
Vitality: 5;
Strength: 5;
Dexterity : 4;
Intelligence: 3;
Resistance: 4;
1 free stat point
———
System Points: 0;
Spirit: 310;
]
After adding my free point to strength, I said to Ai.
'Leveling up twice in two days is pretty good. Is there a limit?'
[Not really, but you seem to forget about the months that you spent training. Without all that training, beating even a single wolf would be a challenge. Also the amount of exp required will keep increasing, making leveling up harder and harder.]
I realized that what Ai said made sense so I toned down my excitement and made my way back to the cave. I killed one more lone wolf on the way and reached the cave twenty minutes later.
"Did you do it?" asked old man Cunt as soon as he saw me.
I nodded and said "I just needed to kill a few more wolves. Come and help me unseal the cave.". I wanted to finish my quest as soon as possible and leave this mountain.
Old man Cain hesitated for a moment before we both started pushing the giant boulder away. It took a bit of effort but soon a dark and eerie cave was revealed. We stopped pushing as soon as we made enough space for a person to pass trough. I looked at the dark cave and said.
"We should have brought a torch or something."
Old man Cunt also seemed reluctant to go in and said "How about we don't go in? I have a bad feeling about it."
I was also starting to hesitate but as I was about to open my mouth, I felt Anna's tug on my sleeves. Not wanting to let her down I said. "How about I go check it out first? I'm the strongest in the group and if I don't return in one hour you can just leave and try to sort out things with the villagers."
"No, I'm also coming." Anna immediately replied, not wishing to be left behind.
Seeing her determined expression I didn't even bother to try to convince her otherwise and turned towards the old man.
"If you die in there what is the point of me staying alive. I can't really return to the village and I also can't get pass the ogres on my own, so if you are determined to go inside I have no choice than to come with you."
Nodding towards him, I said "Okay, I'll go first. Anna you follow right behind me and old man, you guard our back. Try to stay close and not get separated in the dark."
Seeing bot of them agree, I took a deep breath and made my way inside.
[Keep one hand on one of the walls. It will help in case this is a maze and stop us from walking into a wall or losing our way. Also, walk slowing while checking for holes on the ground.]
Used to trusting Ai's advice, I followed her instruction and asked the others to do the same. We kept walking slowly for about twenty minutes until a light appeared up ahead. We kept following the wall and reached a place where the cave's size expanded greatly. The light we saw from outside came from crystals that were placed uniformly on the ceiling of the cave.
[Be careful. Considering the placing of those crystals someone lives or used to live here.]
I stopped my steps at Ai's words and asked her.
'Do you know what those crystals are?'
[Not by sight alone. I should be able to figure something out if you can touch them.]
As the other two were looking around the room in wonder I said to the old man.
"Old man, do you mind passing me your spear for a moment?"
The old man didn't question me and passed me his spear. I ripped a piece of leather from my clothes and used it to tie my spear and his together. After making sure that they were tightly tied to each other, I used the new spear to try to nudge one of the crystals. After a few tries, I was finally successful and made it fall down. After picking it up, Ai sounded in my mind.
[I don't know their name exactly but they seem to be created using magic, which further implies that someone is or was here before.]
Thinking that it might actually get dangerous inside, I asked Ai.
'How long will it take for my hand to heal up enough for me to use it?'
[With the increase in level your regeneration speed also increased so your wound should be healed in ten or so hours.]
Thinking for a moment, I said to the other two "How about resting here for a while before moving further in. I'm a bit tired and I would prefer to be in a better condition in case anything dangerous happens."
Seeing the two agree with me I said to the old man
"We'll take turns keeping guard while resting. I will take the first shift and after you wake up, you'll take the second one."
After the old man agreed, they both went to sleep while I sat down near them, asked Ai to alert me in case anything happens and entered my soul space to practice.